Case Studies

Paducah

The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) is a government-owned uranium enrichment plant constructed in the early 1950s for manufacturing enriched uranium. This enriched uranium was used to create fuel assemblies, which were then used to support commercial and military nuclear reactors, and weapons development activities. These activities produced various wastes that need to be categorized.

PT&C was contracted to evaluate contractor proposals for the Paducah Environmental Remediation Performance Work Statement (PWS) and to assist the Integrated Project Team (IPT) in developing an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE).

The PT&C team consisted of five cost engineers and schedulers. The team attended a site visit and kick-off meeting at the Paducah GDP in 2008 to gain site-specific knowledge, identify physical site constraints, and receive all pertinent PWS information required to prepare the IGCE.

PT&C prepared a detailed, activity based cost estimate based on the PWS bid package. PT&C also created a complete schedule, fully integrated with the MII cost estimates, using Primavera. This cost-loaded schedule allowed the direct work to drive the durations of the indirect activities, completing the estimating process. The total project cost for the five year period of performance was on the order of $500 million. PT&C was also contracted to perform the same set of tasks for the entire infrastructure task at the Paducah site.

PT&C participated on a Source Evaluation Board (SEB) that evaluated the costs proposed by the vendors to perform the work identified by the PWS.

Portsmouth

At the Portsmouth GDP, PT&C estimated the preliminary cost of decommissioning & decontamination (D&D) of the process buildings, as well as the costs of accelerating the project's schedule. PT&C provided technical and cost support to the IPT in the development of the PWSs for the Engineering Technical Services, Management & Integration (M&I), and infrastructure contracts for work to be completed at the Portsmouth GDP. PT&C also developed IGCEs for the M&I and Infrastructure PWSs and supported the SEB in reviewing contractor proposals.

This case study is part of a larger project: USACE Huntington District Cost Engineering